Through Uneven Glass
by Killer-San
Summary: There was a shocked moment of complete silence, the silence before the storm, everyone's eyes glued on Ulquiorra's still form just inches from Inoue's hands. Her heart fluttered.
1. Prologue: Sun Goddess

**A/N: **This is going to be placed sometime after the battle with Aizen, and the loss of Ichigo's Spiritual Power, because we don't need Ichigo messing stuff up with his Ichigo-ness! D;

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own anything, because Ulquiorra took it all and sold it for tea bags. God damn hollow sure does love earl grey. (._.'')

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_A sunless garden, entwined in dead flowers._

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Shadows stood where the sky met the earth; entrapped between the two polar opposites, the sun and the moon, battling in a war that had enraged for centuries. Good verses Evil, Human verses Monster, and even more ironically so when the monster was originally the human's creation.

Each stood tall in their own shade of black or white, envious of the ones who dwelled within the pages of gray while the ones who dwelled in the pages of gray envied the ignorant who stood at either side, those whose understanding of right and wrong contrasted so greatly. It was a never balanced scale, and those who knew the truth about one side always wanted to be on the other if they did not already fear the other side.

However, neither side was ever as pure as one may be told, because death and sacrifice are necessary to move forward in life, both Hollow and Human.

Blood spatters adorned the ground like rubies might adorn the crown of a goddess, the glistening glob of bodily fluid that had once rushed through the veins of a hero now trickled down the face of a burden. Orihime Inoue, wearing the blood of her comrade, faced the fear that had been breathing down the back of her neck for the past five years; death.

The previous Aukio Amane stood in the rays of the sun, eyes smoldering. It was odd for this to occur, for usually Hollows did not rouse themselves during the day time to cause trouble, choosing to ensnare victims in their sleep. Perhaps it was from these preferences that the human lore of the things that go 'bump in the night' came to be.

Hollows were supposed to despise the sun, It was like the sunlight was a path for redemption, and reminder of what once was. It could compare to the way a Bount might react to a cross. It wasn't because the cross had any particular power over the vampiric creature, it was simply psychological. If the cross had been a symbol of importance to a human before it was transformed into a bount, then it would be a reminder of what they had when they were alive. It scares the bount, but in desperate times, although it is rare, the bount may turn to the cross and beg the god they had once confided in for sweet mercy as a hollow might turn to the sun as a sign of warmth, and forgiveness.

The pair was risen up by the pathetic excuse of a hill under feet, the sky light illuminating the outlines of their beings and giving off a sort of holy resemblance. It was as if they were an artist's _dream_ of what gods at war may look like from afar, ablaze with the fire of the sun at the edges of their bodies, black in comparison to the blinding rays. Only one there stood like a true god, however, while the other quivered at it's feet. The slight wavering of the only weed visible in the area was like a haunting reminder of how easily life could be threatened.

"No matter how sweetly you beg, or how long you cry, it will still be the end of this boy, child."

The Hollow's voice was deep, like the sound coming from between his lips was from the very core of his bones, and could have fringed on the edge of kind had he not been threatening Ichigo's life. It reminded her of an old man's voice, almost. A demonic old man.

"Did you honestly believe that just standing in my way will sway me not to kill him? Will make me drop my weapon here, and adhere to your childish request?"

The beast sneered, baring his curled yellow teeth at her. He reeked of the swamp, his large looming figure resembling a yarn ball, made out of weeds and mud. If Inoue had been in her proper mind, she might have stopped to think that he would be the perfect poster cover for a bad sixties horror movie.

The sun shone down from behind the looming hollow's head obscuring his face from Orihime's view as he spoke, while his shadow stretched out before him like a stray cat might bathe in the sunshine. Although his face was obscured, anyone could see that the hollow was a formidable foe to those it faced. Not from the vines that settled upon the monster's spine, or the mask upon it's face did it suffer a scratch when Ichigo, who lay at Orihime's feet, was quite the opposite.

Ichigo had been stupid to even dare to approach this hollow without the revival of his own spiritual powers, and Orihime knew that he wouldn't have even dared approach it if she hadn't gotten herself tied up with the beast in the first place.

Sometimes, Orihime would hope that the loss of Ichigo's spiritual power would cause him to have better judgment when picking fights, but even without the power of a Shinigami he still picked fights with those who seemed so much more powerful than him.

There was a moment of absolute silence, there was no sound, only the image of Orihime's fate. It was as if the world had stopped, had gasped in a soft breath of horror as it caught the glimmer of the Hollow's claw.

The weed swung it's yellow face from side to side in the bustle of the breeze, her body screaming silently for her to get up and move, while Orihime's long locks of hair trailed off to the side of her shoulder with the demonic wind, whispering in her ear to not be afraid. "Don't fight it," it cooed. "Don't fight it." She was so horrified, so lost, all she could do was stare up at the beast with a dumbfound look as he approached tormentingly slow.

"Move, or I'll cut you down to get through to him." The monster's voice rustled again, faint to her as she looked beyond her killer, behind him, as something rather strange begin to form out of the corner of her eye.

Behind Aukio, she could see an image of her brother smiling down at her amongst a whole sea of people that shimmered into view as though they were seeing her off on some great adventure. She could recognize all of them, even though their images seemed paled against the blue sky and so unreal she could see the sunshine through their translucent skin.

These people she saw, they were the true essence of ghosts, the _ghosts of memory_.

The images of Yoruichi, Chad and Ishida kindly waved at her from their spot behind Rukia in the crowd, as though inviting her into her fate, and she could even see Kurosaki. Underneath Urahara's large pale hands Kurosaki's little sisters appeared, and Kon, waving wildly at her from Noba's shoulder. All of them smiled warmly at Inoue, reminders of all those people she had the privilege of meeting, and as her eyes glazed over the faces of all different ages she almost felt at peace.

That is, until she came upon the last one to the far right, who seemed to be excluded from the rest of the crowd. He was peculiarly pale and didn't look particularly happy to be there, his deep green eyes averted as if disgusted by the antics of the others.

Time froze for what felt like the longest time; until that faint glimmer of a claw was inches away from touching her skin, but all she could see was the glittering white sands of Hueco Mundo behind this man; no_-__through_ this man, and the deep green tears that appeared to be continuously sliding down his cheeks_. _But- he wasn't crying, his face seemed a perfect picture of indifference. For several seconds, she wasted time on trying to remember just who he was, until the name came barreling into her mind as though it had been offended by the fact she hadn't immediately remembered it.

Her hand outstretched towards him, her fingers twisting around in the air just as a sharp claw raked her side and a golden glow enveloped the entire area surrounding them.

_Ulquiorra Cifer._

The image shattered as her Shun Shun Rikka flew from the long locks that had clung to the sides of her face, and she fell backwards from the power of the almost solid glow, her head smacking back against the rocky ground before she felt flying into Kurosaki, eventually ending up at the bottom of the hill.

"Scream, Benihime."

Kisuke Urahara stood vigilant at the bottom of the hill, his hand placed over the top of his green and white striped hat to keep it placed upon his head, his other hand wrapped around the hilt of his sword, Benihime. Aukio Amane split in half, the sound of the explosion from Urahara's Benihime echoing eerily through the air as if it were an invisible bomb going off into the night, and then the pieces of the Beast disintegrated into the sky.

The purification of Aukio Amane was not Urahara's problem with the situation, however, and soon that airy smirk that he had pasted onto his features slunk back into a rarity of utter seriousness.

He tilted his head back towards the sky as a bird might turn it's head before taking flight, the shadow of his hat that normally descended over his honey brown eyes completely eliminated by what looked like one of Orihime's Soten Kisshun's, but much larger. It was like a small sun, over shining the light that came down from above. A phenomenon that defied god.

Inside the 'sun,' an even greater defying act occurred, an act that defied the stars themselves. Such blasphemy might ear Inoue a one way ticket into hell

Ichigo lay on his side, his head lolled back against the ground while Orihime lay sprawled over his waist, having been knocked back by her fall. She could see Urahara, in front of the ball of light, through blurry eyes that betrayed her emotions. Confusion, horror. They all seemed to be a contributing force to her weakness, until Urahara's dumbstruck look was within view as her vision cleared and she shot up, using Kurosaki's broken ribs to thrust herself upwards.

It wasn't until she was halfway up the hill did she realize that she had probably injured her dear strawberry, and flung herself around to go back down towards the unconscious man to apologize, to which when she made it down by his side again she noticed Urahara, again, and flung _back_ around to see the horror behind her. And, if it wasn't for what was currently going on inside of Orihime's Shun Shun Rikka, Urahara would have slapped her for being so stupid.

Inside the glowing mini-sun, ash was gathering from seemingly nothing, dark specs of black against orange as they spiraled around inside. It was like god had reached his mighty hand down from Heaven, and shook up the space like a snow globe. The black 'snow flakes' pieced themselves together, slowly, until color melted into the pieces like wax, and they turned into a more liquid-like substance that twisted around itself to form bone. With horror, the only words Urahara could even formulate, the only sentence he could think of, the only thought in his mind was "no." He could see what was happening, what Inoue was doing was something almost exactly akin to what Aizen did, the difference was Orihime _didn't need the Hogyoku to do it. _He tilted his head back down towards the ground, sheathing Benihime at his side while his lips curved downwards into a deep frown.

"You don't need to hide, Ishida, I know you two are there."

Urahara turned just as Ishida and Chad revealed themselves from behind a rather large dip just below the hill, Ishida's white jacket flowing about his feet from the power of Orihime's creation. Chad looked rather concerned, his face a picture perfect match for Ishida's own, but you didn't have to look at the guy to realize he was worried.

He called out to Inoue; ready to rush towards her in her place upon the hill, screaming for control of her Shun Shun Rikka, but was stopped by Ishida's outstretched bicep.

"We felt her Spiritual Pressure was strange, but we never thought that this..."

Ishida's arm dropped as he adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose, the reflection of a... a human skeleton being put together playing out in the deep blue of his glasses lens. Orihime walked back and forth in front of the glowing globe, her eyes as wide as a lover's moon while she screamed out for Tsubaki- any one of the fairies to stop whatever was playing out before her. She could see muscle and skin being laid out across the body like someone might lay a map out on a table, and before long the facial features of this person became apparent, and she lost her voice.

There, on the ground, lay Ulquiorra Cifer as the Soten Kisshun impostor around him dimmed. Her palms pressed against the edges of the continuously dimming globe, and Urahara finally removed his hand from his hat as the wind began to die down. There was a shocked moment of complete silence, the silence before the storm, everyone's eyes glued on Ulquiorra's still form just inches from Inoue's hands.

Her heart fluttered.

Then there was an ear splitting sound that that erupted from Ulquiorra's entrapment, sounding something beyond a noise that any being could make, and the glow returned full blast, granting everyone with a temporary blindness in it's wake.

His body contorted in unnatural ways as arteries and organs were forced into commission, the joints forming together snugly like the last stitch someone was putting into a doll. He twisted from side to side, fighting against the inside of his confinement, clawing at the wall between him and Orihime until his fingers bled and left red dribbles that sizzled against the inside of the orange glow as if it were boiling hot.

Mortified, Orihime begged and pleaded for her Shun Shun Rikka to stop, but there as no reply. All Orihime knew was that whatever was happening was her fault, in some way she was putting Ulquiorra through this unnecessary pain, and even though he had kidnapped her and berated her, she was overwhelmed with guilt.

The emotion was clear across her face, mixed in with the horror and disbelief, and Ishida made note of it as his vision cleared. He was shocked, yes, someone should _not_ have the power to give life in such a way. But his face revealed nothing of his feelings as he struggled his way against the rising winds to Kurosaki who he had noticed was collapsed a bit farther off than them.

He would ask questions later, and assist his friend now, for the question he was going to ask had no need to be explained at the moment. Too much chaos, screw whatever the hell was going on with Orihime right now. It was too insane to even believe.

Ishida prayed that if he turned his back on it, when he turned back around, it would be gone.

Blood streamed down Ulquiorra's arms and onto his white espada uniform, his mouth open with some soundless scream as the teal tear lines on his cheeks began to fade into black. The sky was beginning to dim with nightfall, and Orihime was beginning to slump against the side of the globe, staring with disbelief as Ulquiorra's hands slid away from the wall of the ball and all traces of his once suffocating spiritual pressure ceased to exist, the half helmet he wore upon his head crumbling into pottery pieces.

Her Shun Shun Rikka faltered, the globe flickering in and out of view as Ulquiorra's eyes became dim as though he were staring at someone who wasn't there in the sky, mouthing words to that invisible person that she couldn't understand.

She felt drained, and just as her Shun Shun Rikka returned to pin back her locks of hair, she went limp and collapsed.

Vaguely, Orihime could remember Chad coming up behind her and holding her in his arms just as the globe gave out a last few dying flickers, and Ulquiorra vanished into the air, the only sign that he had actually been there the broken pieces of helmet that littered the ground along with the few blots of blood and the few rumbles the chamber had given, lingering in the air.


	2. Enter the Fruit Bat

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own Bleach, but I do own like...six cosplayers dressed up like Ulquiorra that I locked in my closet. But these days, who_ doesn't_ have a few of those?

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_The leaves of memory seemed to make a__ mournful rustling in the dark._

- _Henry Wadsworth Longfellow_

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**Eight Months Later**

The afternoon sun stretched down Orihime's apartment stairway, spreading it's wings through the spaces between the railing, leaving streaks of light upon the hardwood floors.

Two people sat mushed together in her love seat, listening to the chitter-chatter of the red haired beauty in the chair across from them. She sat sideways in the overstuffed chair, her knees drawn up to her chest, crowned by the careless drop of her hair.

It was a quaint little conversation, about bean bread and sweets and dreams. Nothing that the two gentlemen really wanted to speak of, but whatever kept the smile upon Orihime's face, whatever kept her at peace, would do. She had been so sad as of late, ever since that faithful occurrence they dared not speak of in front of her.

Ichigo hated himself for letting Orihime get hurt, for letting her get so desperate as to-

He stopped himself in the middle of that thought, averting his eyes to the sun-stained floor of her living room. He hadn't felt adequate since the loss of his Spiritual Pressure. He worked out to the same extremes as he once had with none of the same results, trying to make up for his sudden found weakness. He no longer could protect anything, anyone.

He felt worthless

The ceasing of Orihime's chatter brought Ichigo back to attention, when a humming bird flew in through the open bay window. It was as if someone had sent Orihime a present from a far away land, as if she where a small child, and her face lit up to what seemed to be it's brightest capacity.

It could have been comparable to the sun; or Venus, who's smiles turned very bone to a jelly-like substance. Her laughter was as merry as sleigh bells while she watched the small bird with amazement, reaching out for it from her seat as if it would come to her.

The moment, however, gave way to something more sinister as the sun hid behind a cloud and the once warm apartment, chilled, as if something sucked the warmth right out of it.

The living room, something that had resembled what you might see in a magazine ,was now a cheap play set for disaster as glass from the bay window burst into the room in a whirl of satin curtains.

A blob of black played the star of this event, upsetting the love seat and cups from the coffee table along with the television, which it had promptly smashed into, leaving bare wires to spit electric sparks onto the white carpet, and scorch it. But among all the damage, among all of the noise, an even greater horror arose. No, it hadn't been enough that some black thing had just flown into the room out of nowhere, and disturbed the whole area, but to get worse?

It was now even more horrifying to learn that Orihime wasn't dealing with some little blobbish creature, even though that had been scary before, now... That fear had nothing to compare to the next one that stirred deep into the pit of her stomach as she stared past the love seat and Ichigo's disheveled form, and the "little" black creature that now stood up to about six _fucking_ feet tall.

Shaking the bits of glass from it's furry body, it rose back onto it's haunches, and eyed Orihime in her easy chair like prey with sharp and defined eyes- eyes that were framed with viridian.

The hummingbird zipped around the beasts head, swirling loops around the white long ears that stuck out from on top of it's head, and without tearing it's eyes from Orihimes, it snatched the bird from the air and shoved it into a mouth full of perfectly sharp teeth.

A gasp escaped her throat, and even through her tears, she could see that once beautiful creature being gnashed up inside of the beast's mouth, blood dribbling down it's chin like a river. It wasn't until the tears had started sliding down her cheeks that it spit out the bird upon the ground at her feet, perhaps not finding the taste suitable.

The hole, yes the hole.

There was a hole, through all the thick fur, on the bare chest was a hole that dripped blood from the sweet bird that had lost it's life. It was so distinguished, such a perfect circle, that she could see through the creature's chest to the other side of the room.

"I-Ichigo-Kun?..."

Calling to her friend, she could feel her heartbeat in her fists as they balled up at her side, every wisp of breath that escaped soundlessly from her lips.

This..._this_ thing. She could feel it's eyes, as if it were staring right into her soul. And in some twisted way, the look felt familiar, some distant thought from the fuzzy dreams of sweets and laundry detergent.

Ichigo flew across the room like a robin from it's nest, arms outspread to push the beast into the ground and away from it's predatory stance over Inoue, only to crash into a large and unbelievably hard surface.

A wall- no. A wing had surfaced from behind the monster's back and blocked Ichigo's attack, a wing that appeared paper thin against the fluorescent lighting of the room. At the angle Orihime sat defensively in her chair she could see every bone and every vein that made up such a strong structure. It was honestly a wonder how something so strong could appear so delicate. The alignment of veins so intricate, so unpredictable, it was impossible that wing really held Ichigo still, but it did.

Orihime called softly out to Ichigo again, but her body tensed in anticipation as she realized that it's eyes had never removed them self from her. They bore into her, through her- so familiar.

The wing jerked backwards, causing slight tremors to shake the objects on her shelves and violently taking Ichigo into the wall, before the wing folded neatly back against the beast's back as if it had never been there to cause harm at all.

For the first few moments, Orihime met it's eyes with trembling determination, trying not to looks towards the blood spatter across the wall from the force it had applied on Ichigo's body. From the glare of red in the corner of her eyes, she didn't even want to look for fear that he was dead, that his head had imploded in the heaviness of it's blow.

The creature, looking back at her with a glazed over look in it's eyes, lurched forward, and then quickly drew itself back onto it's haunches as if it was confused as to why it wanted to go near her in the first place.

And then, after a short momen of revelation, it finally launched itself towards her, in for the kill. She could imagine it, making off with her entrails and feasting on them while sundaes and popcorn buckets danced around in the wiggling green background...

It wasn't until she saw it up close, after it knocked the lamp down off of her chair side-table into thousands of small pieces that Orihime realized that it wasn't flying towards her, but over her. In her amazingly small apartment; in once instant, Orihime was able to look up and see the creature inches above her head, huge, tail trailing behind it, wings outspread... before it crashed head first into her most lovely kitchen table and sent splinters flying.

There was a momentary silence as she yanked herself around in her chair and peeked from behind it at the _thing_ that now flopped around on her kitchen floor like a large fish, it's head stuck inside a canister that she had taken the liberty of filling up with apples that afternoon before the boys came.

She couldn't believe her eyes, that most terrifying hollow had been defeated by a canister.

For a moment, Inoue pondered the idea that it had really been aiming to attack her but had missed and somehow flew into the canister instead, but the idea was quickly discarded. It would have indeed made a lot of sense if the Hollow had missed her while trying to attack her, but how it had missed her just right so that it could shove it's head inside of a canister was beyond her.

"Inoue..."

Ishida stood at her side, causing her to jump like a thousand flames in a pit, his hand going to her shoulder almost immediately as if he where attempting to steady her. She could see the blood on the back of his white button up t-shirt from where the back of his head had hit the wall when he was knocked over, and attempted to call upon her Shun Shun Rikka only to be cut off moments before she could even speak the words.

"You need to go find Urahara, and tell him to call the Soul Society." Ishida's voice was thick with pain, she could sense that, but underneath that layer of which she couldn't sense, there was a tone of command.

Beyond that? Fear.

The same fear that had shook him to his bones as he saw an enemy being reformed right before his glass shielded eyes, all of the work that had been done to kill- undone.

But it would all make sense a moment or two after Orihime turned back towards the creature, which had both of it's legs up to claw and pull at the canister on top of it's head. It could have been a moment of laughter, at first, to see something once so terrifying defeated by a canister covered in dancing bento. It was sort of cute, in a twisted sort of way. That was of course, until it managed to tear the canister off of it's head and Orihime got a good look at it.

Bits and pieces of apple clung to the tufts of fur it had, only separated by a pale midsection and a hollow hole, and the creature licked at the sticky juices like a cat might lap at a bowl of milk. It sat awkwardly on it's haunches, the fur at it's waist being much longer than the rest brushing against the floor like a shag carpet while it eyed an apple just a few feet away from where it sat licking it's chest fur. Pointed white ears stood high upon the Hollow's head, flicking backwards every time a car or some noise outside caught it's attention while the autumn red eyes focused on the equally as red apple. The air was heavy, almost insufferable, but the creature seemed oblivious now that it was eating, and it reached out a dead black paw to scoop up the bruised apple in it's palm. Sharp rows of teeth flashed just before it buried them inside the crisp skin of the apple, juice dripping from the abused fruit around it's small, but rather quaint mouth. But, what wasn't off about the situation was the fact that the Hollow was eating apples instead of souls, no.

"Orihime... Now, please!"

Ishida's voice was laced with growing anxiety and fear as it completely finished the apple, chewing on the core with gnashing teeth, but Orihime was transfixed. It would take several moments for her to grab the cell phone from her pocket and dial Urahara's shop number, because what was so phenomenal wasn't that the Hollow hadn't attacked her either.

The beast which sat on her kitchen floor, now looking up at her, dumbfounded and confused like a small child, was Ulquiorra.

It was_ Ulquiorra._

* * *

__Ishida had taken the phone from her at one point, whispering quietly into the phone at Kisuke as they discussed something, and Orihime was left to stare at the black and white beast as it laid on her floor. She hadn't been able to talk, shock having frozen her, even the voice of Kisuke not enough to thaw her.

"Yes, no- I don't know. Come here and look at him." Ishida glanced over his shoulder at Orihime. "She's fine."

Orihime still didn't dare to move although what she tentatively called 'Ulquiorra' had not moved from it's spot, seeming to have found a peaceful spot in a sunbeam from the kitchen window. It's eyes had closed, and it's nose was nestled into the crook of it's elbow.

"It's calm now- yes, it looks like him." Ishida's voice rung through her apartment, but eventually faded as she peeled her eyes away from the form at her feet, and looked back for Kurosaki. Her eyes locked on him almost immediately, and her lips turned down into a worried frown. He was sprawled out on her floor, a trickle of blood running down his forehead from the impact he had been thrown at. Her wall had several cracks in it from where Ichigo had hit- and yet that seemed nothing in comparison to her fallen hero.

She started to get upset the longer she looked at him, and it was not long before worry overcame fear and she tried to plod over to him, tripping over the overturned pieces of furniture and stepping through glass.

"Kurosaki-kun..."

Orihime was startled as the door burst open and Yoruichi stepped inside, panting. She had run all the way there. The dark skinned woman slipped into the room, not even acknowledging Orihime as she made towards the kitchen, and Ishida closed the phone with a loud 'click'.

It didn't matter.

The sound of her arrival had stirred the intruder, and it was soon that the beast was off of the floor and back up on it's haunches, eyes aglow. They were a mustard yellow, surrounded by viridian hues that made the contrast seem almost beautiful had they not been the eyes of a monster. The only oddity about them was that there seemed to be no defining iris, the color seeping over where the white of the sclera would have lain.

A hiss passed through it's obsidian lips, haunches raised as it took a position on all fours. It was as if it were awaiting a challenge from Yoruichi, both having the primal instincts of animals. Then, he took off, slamming into the kitchen window. More shattered glass hit the floor, and it was in a flash that Yoruichi disappeared after him.

The apartment was left in stunned silence.


End file.
